Scene Around

What a shock! (A good one.) ...

I love to watch Jeopardy!, the television game show. It is my 7 p.m. "go to" show.

For the past several weeks there has been one person winning each time. She is phenomenal! She is also a trans-gender person who seems very proud of her status. (She should be proud! I never saw anyone with such diverse knowledge.) Her name is AMY SCHNEIDER and she is Jewish!

As you know by now, I write this column almost two weeks in advance of your receiving the Heritage. So, Amy may not still be the week-after-week champion, but she has won almost one million dollars so far! She has smarts!!

Speaking of millions ...

How about billions? Yes, billions!

I refer to MARK CUBAN, one of the celebrities on "Shark Tank," another television show that I'm addicted to.

Mark, a super-handsome guy, is an American billionaire entrepreneur. His worth is about 4 billion dollars (give or take!) He grew up in a Pittsburgh Jewish-working class family. His paternal grandfather changed the family name from Chabenisky to Cuban after his family emigrated from Russia. His maternal grandparents were from Romania. (Our backgrounds are similar, so where are my billions?)

Speaking of super-handsome ...

It seems actor PAUL RUDD has that title and is featured on a popular magazine cover as "The Sexiest Man Alive."

Actually, I just recently heard of him and I notice that as I get older there are so many new names that I don't recall, although the audiences go wild when their names are mentioned. What ever happened to Ray Milland, Tony Curtis, Paulette Goddard, Debbie Reynolds, and on and on????

(I'm NOT THAT OLD!)

Religious education is crucial ...

I read this in the World Jewish Congress digest and pass it along to you:

"A few months ago (September) WJC president Ambassador RONALD S. LAUDER recently addressed world leaders at the 2021 G20 Interfaith Forum in Bologna, Italy, delivering an impassioned plea for a global effort to strengthen religious education.

The Sept. 12-14 gathering, "Time to heal. Peace among cultures, understanding between religions," focused on the role of religion in ameliorating global challenges that include the pandemic, widespread violence, the massive disruption of formal education, racism, and climate change.

'With all the problems we face, it is religion that is most in danger,' Ambassador Lauder said in his remarks, which was shared virtually. Religion has given humankind 'hope and purpose for thousands of years,' he noted, and has taught us essential concepts such as forbearance, charity, purpose, and the importance of family. 'A new generation has been raided with no connection to religion whatsoever,' he cautioned.

Amb.Lauder pointed to the lethal attacks against people at U.S. Houses of Worship as evidence of the need to counter hate and intolerance. Calling the incidents 'sacrilegious" he spoke of the mass shootings that occurred at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pillsburgh, the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

'When young people are not learning the basic rules of decency, they gravitate toward the teaching of hate and intolerance. All of us have the power and responsibility to turn this around. This can only come through education.

'We must foster a dialogue of positive interfaith relations. We must help people in poor nations educate their youth with the best parts of their religion, we must recruit the most thoughtful and decent teachers for the process, and we must use the internet, because that is the only way to connect with young people today,' he said.

Convened each year in the host country of the G20 Summit, the G20 interfaith forum offers an annual platform where people representing religiously linked institutions and initiatives engage on global agendas.

The yearly gathering builds on the premise that religious institutions have a vital role in world affairs and in highlighting diversity as a means of solving some of the world's greatest challenges."

I recently heard from the University of Central Florida's Dr. Kenneth Hanson ...

"Since 1984, the Judaic studies program at UCF has provided a strong and diversified Jewish education to thousands of UCF students through a rich curriculum on Jewish civilization.

Our innovative projects have fostered an enriched Jewish experience at our university, academically as well as culturally.

In 2019, we produced a documentary about the Israeli Druze community. It was showcased at UCF Celebrates the Arts in April of 2021 and won three awards at international film festivals.

We are actively developing video games to teach academic content and our guest lecturer series has brought some of the finest scholarship on Jewish subjects to our campus and to the community at large."

How proud we all are ...

(Especially, SANDY PICHENY, MATTHEW PICHENY'S mom.)

Matt grew up here in Central Florida and now lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, ERICA. (My hometown!)

Recently both were awarded Tony's for co-producing two Broadway shows, "American Utopia" and "Moulin Rouge."

And that's not all ... Matt is a former actor who is now in the real estate business. He also buys multi-unit apartment complexes and is quite successful!

And once again ... that's not all!

Matt wrote a book titled "The Backstage Guide to Real Estate."

According to Matt, "With an optimistic win-win approach and practical advice, "Backstage Guide to Real Estate" is for busy entrepreneurs, inspired leaders, nomadic visionaries, and change agents everywhere, who want to direct the power of their investment dollars to make positive changes in their world." Pulling back the curtain, Matt reveals the power of purposeful investing to improve life for you, your family, and even the world, one passive investment at a time. Matt's uncommon journey from actor to real estate investor, exposes the power of passive income to liberate you from necessity, setting you financially free to write your own story.

His book can be pre-ordered and will be available in February 2022.

(Why not buy it, become a million or billionaire and then married me!)

One for the road ...

During the winter of 1926, Thelma Goldstein from Chicago, treated herself to her first real vacation in Florida. Being unfamiliar with the area, she wandered into a restricted hotel in northern Miami.

"Excuse me," she said to the manager. "My name is Mrs. Goldstein and I'd like a small room for two weeks."

"I'm awfully sorry," he replied, "but all of our rooms are occupied."

Just as he said that, a man came down and checked out.

"What luck," said Mrs. Goldstein, "now there's a room."

"Not so fast madam. I'm sorry, but this hotel is restricted. No Jews allowed."

"Jewish," she said, "who's Jewish? I happen to be Catholic."

"I find that hard to believe," he responded. "Let me ask you, who was the son of God?"

"Jesus, son of Mary," she answered.

"And where was he born?"

"In a stable."

"And why was he born in a stable?"

She thought for a moment and then answered, "Because some shmuck like you wouldn't let a Jew rent a room in his hotel!"